Sean C Murphy
Biographic Data
| ID | 5223667 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sean C Murphy |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sean C |
| FAMILY NAME | Murphy |
| SIGNATURE | MURPHY S C |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Melbourne |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6783-9906 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The Assessment of Post-secondary Supports
We investigated environmental supports, an understudied aspect of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), with rural Appalachian youth, an understudied population. We developed a new measure of proximal influences that bolster the pursuit of postsecondary education, the Assessment of Postsecondary Supports (APSS). Across 3 studies, we develop and validate the new measure, finding strong internal consistency and construct validity. Moreover, scores…
Does Sexual Desire Fluctuate More Among Women than Men
There is a lay assumption that women’s sexual desire varies substantially over time, whereas men’s is stable. This assumption is mirrored in prominent theories of desire, which posit that women are more variable than men in the extent to which they desire sex, and that women’s sexual desire is more contextually sensitive than men’s. We tested this assumption across three longitudinal studies. Study 1 assessed desire at 3 time points spanning 13 y…
The Neuroscientification of Psychology
The apparent convergence of psychology and brain science has been the subject of both celebration and critique, but it has never been systematically charted. We examined historical trends in the representation of neuroscientific concepts in a corpus of 798,402 psychology journal articles published over the past half century, from 1965 to 2016. A dictionary of 522 uniquely neuroscience-related terms was developed, and the percentage of article abs…
When (fake) beauty turns ugly
For the good of evolutionary psychology, let's reunite proximate and ultimate explanations
Preferences for Sexually Dimorphic Body Characteristics Revealed in a Large Sample of Speed Daters
While hundreds of studies have investigated the indices that make up attractive body shapes, these studies were based on preferences measured in the laboratory using pictorial stimuli. Whether these preferences translate into real-time, face-to-face evaluations of potential partners is unclear. Here, 539 (275 female) participants in 75 laboratory-based sessions had their body dimensions measured before engaging in round-robin speed dates. After e…
Reexamining the categorical exclusion of pediatric participants from controlled human infection trials
Controlled human infection (CHI) models have been developed for numerous pathogens in order to better understand disease processes and accelerate drug and vaccine testing. In the past, some researchers conducted highly controversial CHIs with vulnerable populations, including children. Ethical frameworks for CHIs now recommend vulnerable populations be excluded because they cannot consent to high risk research. In this paper we argue that CHI stu…
Creation across culture
Prior research suggests that human children lack an aptitude for tool innovation. However, children's tool making must be explored across a broader range of tasks and across diverse cultural contexts before we can conclude that they are genuinely poor tool innovators. To this end, we investigated children's ability to independently construct 3 new tools using distinct actions: adding, subtracting, and reshaping. We tested 422 children across a br…
A Longitudinal Test of Three Theories of Overconfidence
This article presents a longitudinal test of three proposed functions of overconfidence. In a sample of 894 high school boys surveyed across two school years, we examined whether overconfidence in sporting ability and intelligence predicts improved mental health, motivation, and popularity. Both sporting and intelligence overconfidence showed positive cross-sectional associations with mental health outcomes, but there was little evidence that ove…
Exploring Ethical Concerns About Human Challenge Studies
Controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) studies deliberately infect healthy participants with malaria to test interventions faster and more efficiently. Some argue the study design and high payments offered raise ethical concerns about participants' understanding of risks and undue inducement. We conducted baseline and exit interviews with 16 CHMI study participants to explore these concerns. Participants described themes including decision-mak…
Winners are grinners
A Hands-On Guide to Conducting Psychological Research on Twitter
The rising popularity of social media has created valuable opportunities for researchers to quickly and cheaply tap large amounts of data on naturalistic social interactions. One of the most useful and accessible sources of social media data is Twitter. Although Twitter data are free to access, however, the programming tools required to collect and analyze these data are likely to create a barrier for many psychologists. The goal of this article …
Having a Lot of a Good Thing
Membership in important social groups can promote a positive identity. We propose and test an identity resource model in which personal self-esteem is boosted by membership in additional important social groups. Belonging to multiple important group memberships predicts personal self-esteem in children (Study 1a), older adults (Study 1b), and former residents of a homeless shelter (Study 1c). Study 2 shows that the effects of multiple important g…
Malaria and Global Infectious Diseases
The morning after Ronald Ross confirmed that mosquitoes formed a critical link in the lifecycle of the malaria parasite, he wrote in his notebook: ...I have found thy secret deeds Oh million-murdering Death. I know that this little thing A million men will save [1]
Creation across culture
Prior research suggests that human children lack an aptitude for tool innovation. However, children's tool making must be explored across a broader range of tasks and across diverse cultural contexts before we can conclude that they are genuinely poor tool innovators. To this end, we investigated children's ability to independently construct 3 new tools using distinct actions: adding, subtracting, and reshaping. We tested 422 children across a br…
Does Sexual Desire Fluctuate More Among Women than Men
There is a lay assumption that women’s sexual desire varies substantially over time, whereas men’s is stable. This assumption is mirrored in prominent theories of desire, which posit that women are more variable than men in the extent to which they desire sex, and that women’s sexual desire is more contextually sensitive than men’s. We tested this assumption across three longitudinal studies. Study 1 assessed desire at 3 time points spanning 13 y…
Winners are grinners
Malaria and Global Infectious Diseases
The morning after Ronald Ross confirmed that mosquitoes formed a critical link in the lifecycle of the malaria parasite, he wrote in his notebook: ...I have found thy secret deeds Oh million-murdering Death. I know that this little thing A million men will save [1]
Having a Lot of a Good Thing
Membership in important social groups can promote a positive identity. We propose and test an identity resource model in which personal self-esteem is boosted by membership in additional important social groups. Belonging to multiple important group memberships predicts personal self-esteem in children (Study 1a), older adults (Study 1b), and former residents of a homeless shelter (Study 1c). Study 2 shows that the effects of multiple important g…
A Hands-On Guide to Conducting Psychological Research on Twitter
The rising popularity of social media has created valuable opportunities for researchers to quickly and cheaply tap large amounts of data on naturalistic social interactions. One of the most useful and accessible sources of social media data is Twitter. Although Twitter data are free to access, however, the programming tools required to collect and analyze these data are likely to create a barrier for many psychologists. The goal of this article …
A Longitudinal Test of Three Theories of Overconfidence
This article presents a longitudinal test of three proposed functions of overconfidence. In a sample of 894 high school boys surveyed across two school years, we examined whether overconfidence in sporting ability and intelligence predicts improved mental health, motivation, and popularity. Both sporting and intelligence overconfidence showed positive cross-sectional associations with mental health outcomes, but there was little evidence that ove…
Exploring Ethical Concerns About Human Challenge Studies
Controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) studies deliberately infect healthy participants with malaria to test interventions faster and more efficiently. Some argue the study design and high payments offered raise ethical concerns about participants' understanding of risks and undue inducement. We conducted baseline and exit interviews with 16 CHMI study participants to explore these concerns. Participants described themes including decision-mak…
Winners are grinners
Creation across culture
Prior research suggests that human children lack an aptitude for tool innovation. However, children's tool making must be explored across a broader range of tasks and across diverse cultural contexts before we can conclude that they are genuinely poor tool innovators. To this end, we investigated children's ability to independently construct 3 new tools using distinct actions: adding, subtracting, and reshaping. We tested 422 children across a br…
Reexamining the categorical exclusion of pediatric participants from controlled human infection trials
Controlled human infection (CHI) models have been developed for numerous pathogens in order to better understand disease processes and accelerate drug and vaccine testing. In the past, some researchers conducted highly controversial CHIs with vulnerable populations, including children. Ethical frameworks for CHIs now recommend vulnerable populations be excluded because they cannot consent to high risk research. In this paper we argue that CHI stu…
For the good of evolutionary psychology, let's reunite proximate and ultimate explanations
Preferences for Sexually Dimorphic Body Characteristics Revealed in a Large Sample of Speed Daters
While hundreds of studies have investigated the indices that make up attractive body shapes, these studies were based on preferences measured in the laboratory using pictorial stimuli. Whether these preferences translate into real-time, face-to-face evaluations of potential partners is unclear. Here, 539 (275 female) participants in 75 laboratory-based sessions had their body dimensions measured before engaging in round-robin speed dates. After e…
The Neuroscientification of Psychology
The apparent convergence of psychology and brain science has been the subject of both celebration and critique, but it has never been systematically charted. We examined historical trends in the representation of neuroscientific concepts in a corpus of 798,402 psychology journal articles published over the past half century, from 1965 to 2016. A dictionary of 522 uniquely neuroscience-related terms was developed, and the percentage of article abs…
When (fake) beauty turns ugly
Does Sexual Desire Fluctuate More Among Women than Men
There is a lay assumption that women’s sexual desire varies substantially over time, whereas men’s is stable. This assumption is mirrored in prominent theories of desire, which posit that women are more variable than men in the extent to which they desire sex, and that women’s sexual desire is more contextually sensitive than men’s. We tested this assumption across three longitudinal studies. Study 1 assessed desire at 3 time points spanning 13 y…
The Assessment of Post-secondary Supports
We investigated environmental supports, an understudied aspect of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), with rural Appalachian youth, an understudied population. We developed a new measure of proximal influences that bolster the pursuit of postsecondary education, the Assessment of Postsecondary Supports (APSS). Across 3 studies, we develop and validate the new measure, finding strong internal consistency and construct validity. Moreover, scores…
Psychology (13 works) · Social Psychology (10 works) · Developmental psychology (6 works) · Medicine (6 works) · Epistemology (3 works) · Psychiatry (3 works) · Sociology (3 works) · Alternative medicine (2 works) · Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies (2 works) · Clinical Psychology (2 works)